"WHY   HAST   THOU   CREATED   MAN?" 
'  I   WAS   A  HIDDEN   TREASURE   AND    I   WISHED   TO   BECOME   KNOWN. 


APOTHEOSIS 


IDE/IL 


INTERIOR-LIFE 


Printed  privately.    Rights  reserved. 
BOSTON : 
1887. 


PS 
99  I 

AIAG4- 


DEDICATED, 

IN  BROTHERLY  DEVOTION  AND  UNCOMPROMISING 
HONESTY,  TO  ALL  AWAKENED  SOULS. 


FOREWORD. 


"What  is  that  sea  whose  shore  is  speech? 
What  is  that  pearl  which  in  its  depths  is  found  ?  " 

(Gulshan  I  Raz.) 

THE  several  contents  of  this  little  volume  are  to  be  looked 
upon  as  continuous  parts  of  one  ever-expanding  whole — an 
ORATORIO — in  rhythmic  speech  in  lieu  of  tune,  whose  trans- 
cendent theme,  i.e. — the  divine  possibilities  of  life — is  treated 
in  five  movements,  having  their  sequence  and  purport  as 
below. 

It  seems  fitting  to  remark  that  audible  or  rather  euphonic 
expression  is  as  needful  to  a  true  and  adequate  interpretation 
of  the  theme  (as  treated)  as  symphonic  is  to  a  theme  in 
harmony. 

EVOCATION : 

The  call  to  consider  the  import  and  scope  of  man's  existence  and 
the  superior  wisdom  and  power  of  the  attainments  possible  to  all 
truly  high  aspiration. 

THE  SEEKING: 

Rationale  of  an  individual  practical  pursuit  of  the  highest  ideal  and 
its  helps  and  hindrances. 

THE  FINDING  : 

The  difficult  way  appears.  It  is  a  normal  interior  growth,  as  fast 
and  certain  as  fitness  is  proved,  from  common  sense  up  to  uncommon. 
The  imperfect  can  find  no  satisfaction  sh'ort  of  its  otvn  Perfect. 


EPITOME : 
The  deductive  refrain. 


APOSTROPHE: 

Universal  amplification  and  application  of  the  central  truths  elicited. 
Man's  inherent  potentialities.  These  are  his  all  in  all  and  all- 
sufficing.  Exhortation  unto  transcendent  purity  and  largeness  of 
life — the  true  spirituality — wherein  is  no  place  for  sentimentality, 
superstition  or  idolatry.  Personalilv  to  be  outgrown,  soul-individu- 
ality remaining.  It  is  only  within  the  innermost  depths  of  man's  own 
being  that  certitude,  peace  and  the  ideal  Real  are  found.  The  Supreme 
is  knowable  but  known  only  where  consciously  self-evoked.  All  other 
knowledge  is  as  naught  compared  with  this  which,  when  really  felt, 
is  beyond  all  demonstration,  the  wish  for  it  or  need  thereof. 


As  to  the  authorship  of  this  deliverance,  if  any  are  inclined 
to  raise  the  subject,  a  thoughtful  perusal  of  its  contents  it  is 
earnestly  hoped  will  persuade  inquirers  that  this  consideration 
as  well  as  all  concerns  touching  merely  the  letter  are  utterly 
foreign  to  the  spirit.  The  authorship,  at  least,  is  a  matter  of 
no  importance,  and  each  and  all  are  besought  to  tacitly 
concede  the  point,  looking  only  to  the  spirit. 


EVOCATION. 


Chorus  of  All-Life  Devas. 
(Maestoso.) 

OF  all  that  hath  breath 

Or  but  promptings  that  hint  not 

So  much  as  a  mute-note 

Of  cosmos'  grand  symphony, 

Nor  faintest  suggest  of  the  pulse-beat  of  nature 

Are  we  mover  and  sponsor. 

Thro'  us  doth  the  formless  spire  into  form. 

Without  us  the  uncreate  knoweth  not  potencies ; 

Ne'er  would  transmute  into  flowers,  into  fruitage  or  least 

bud  of  promise 
The  wealth  without  end 
Of  the  thought-germs  implant  in  the  bosom  of  OM  ! 


8  EVOCATION. 

Ours  is  the  dispensation  supreme 
Untutored  man  conceives  as  stern  fate. 
Behold — if  it  favor — what  homage  ! 
Alas ! — when  inconstant — what  blasphemy ! 
What  impious  zeal  to  impeach  the  inscrutable 
Ends  of  our  mission  surpassingly  meet ! 
Tho'  to  seek  to  discern  them  as  seek  the  wise 
Were  the  sure  path  toward  wisdom, 
Man's  heritage  sovereign. 

When  earnestly  our  genius  is  besought 

A  clue  to  give — a  secret  to  impart 

Whereby  to  make  some  tortuous  pathway  straight, 

Lighten  some  crushing  burden  of  despair 

Or  stay  the  withering  blight  of  false  philosophy, 

The  sen  sate  to  uphold — the  soul  to  desecrate, 

Its  wanton  blandishments  engaging, 

There  are  upraised  some  pure,  clear-seeing  spirits 

Unerring  in  retrieve  of  precious  wheat  from  cumbering 

chaff 

As  they  harvest  the  ideals  of  our  sowing, 
The  fervid  tones  of  whose  high-soaring  accents  prophet- 
voiced, 
Swift,  darting  entrance  unto  human  hearts  command, 


EVOCATION. 

Pierce  them  to  the  quick ! 

Make  them  to  quiver  with  the  charge  electric 

Of  momentous  messages  truth-sublimed ! 

Asserting  in  transports  not  born  of  our  red-heats 

But  from  the  glowing  aspire  of  our  white-heats  kindled, 

Man's  dignity,  dower,  high,  limitless  estate 

And  destiny  awesome, 

Those  grandific  sanctities ! 

Towering  majestical, 

With  the  stars  seeking  company 

Far  above  that  dead-level  in  whose  desert  dust-heaps 

The  world  doth  too  much  elect  to  lie  prone, 

(Alas !  rueful  ignorance, 

Marplotting  pestilence ! ) 

Whose  summits  resplendent  with  light's  apotheosis — 
Crown  of  the  All-Life ! 
Cloud-wrapt  remain — secrets  unfathomed 
Save  to  our  cloud-spurning  illuminati 
At  one  with  the  All-Life— 
In  the  All-Life  embosomed — 
Lost  in  its  boundlessness — 
Sacred  self-surrender ! 
Found  in  its  unity — 
Self  awoke  to  Self's  great  end ! 


10  EVOCATION. 

Unto  the  silent,  consecrate  Would-Bes — 

Tear-christened  Would-Bes 

Our  muse  shall  speak  with  no  inconsequent  sound. 

Would-Bes  uplift  from  the  pits  of  despondency, 

Sense-spurning  Would-Bes 

Self-raised  from   the  death  of  complacency's  squat  and 

dulling  contentedness, 

Yet  heartened  and  heavenward  sent  in  pyramids  of  flame 
Embracing  the  azure — 
Spirit-dyed  azure ! 

By  souls  that  contemn  not  the  consort  corporeous — 
Great  means  to  greater  ends  ! 

While  as  between  picture  and  pigments  that  body  it, 
That  grand,  living  picture  macrocosmic — unframable 
Thro'  the  mute  eons  moving  on  the  wheels  of  polarity, 
The  eye  of  the  seer  artistic,  unenthralled 
By  the  world's  iridescence  and  glittering  earth-mix 
Looking 'deep — looking  sooth-fast 
Thro'  illusion — thro'  veil, 

Meets  the  all-seeing  eye  of  the  Artist  consummate 
Who  conceives  ....  and  conceives  .... 
While  we  enact  and  enact ! 

To  the  Would-Bes  we  speak. 


CHARACTERS, 

PERSONAL  AND  IMPERSONAL, 

PARTICIPATING    IN    THE 
ACTION. 


NAMELESS, A  truth-seeker,     (the  composite  individ- 
uality both  personal  and  impersonal.) 

HIS  SOUL, (pure  transcendental  impersonality.) 

HIS  EGO, (pure   personality — the  temporal   indi- 
viduality.) 

ALTERIA, His  indwelling  Divine-womanly. 

ETHERIA, A  virgin. 

ADON=AI, Son  of  Eternal  Light. 

FEAR, 

and 

INVISIBLES. 


THE  SEEKING. 


(Serioso  con  spirito. Semplice  vivace. Galore  con 

moto. Quieto  con  grazia.) 

[Nameless  seen  wandering  in  solitude^ 

NAMELESS  : 

I  tire  of  my  Present ;  a  stifling,  earthy  Present, 
Tho'  laden  sweet  with  joys  heart  of  mortal  should  make 

glad. 
With  me,  they  turn  to  ashes. 

Not  all, — but  what  content  my  brothers- 
Serve  to  recreate  and  sate 
Lose  their  savor  when  I  taste  them — 
Loathings  bring  ; — I  crave  avoidance. 


14  THE   SEEKING. 

Beyond  that  anxious,  frontward  look 

And  unremitting  strain  to  hold 

A  course,  nor  hope  the  helm  to  quit 

In  the  compelling  earth-life's  voyage, 

The  Past  for  us  hath  planned  occultly — 

Wise  energies  forsooth 

Self-centered  to  a  fault, 

While  from  the  tether  to  belittling  wants  freed  rarely, — 

What  beyond  this  their  life  infills  ? 

What  but  a  profitless  din  and  whirl, 
A  vapid  seeming — a  cozened  pride, 
Surfeits  of  bric-a-brac  quirks  and  cares, 
Round  upon  round  of  gewgaws  and  smirks — 
Honeyed  detestables  !     Nothings  with  names — 
High-acid  vocables  !     High-spiced  delectables  ! 
High-strung  amenities  held  at  a  price  and  bartered  for  gain, 
What  but  a  scramble  of  blist'ring  conceits  and  corroding 

frivolities — 
Soul-killers  all ! 

True  to  the  life  speaks  the  mirror  I  hold, 
Howe'er  they  extenuate 
Or  hotly  repudiate.  t 


THE   SEEKING.  15 

In  terms  of  downright  earnestness  we're  told 

Such  is  Custom's  stern  decree, 

To  break  with  which  is  in  a  rain 

Of  stinging  life-hurts  to  walk  unshielded, 

Ever  so  calmly,  discord-abhorringly  tho'  it  be  done. 

"  Better  conformity. 

Who  thinks  to  escape  the  strict  law  of  recompense — " 
(The  wo'n't-allow-you-to-know-more-than-we  law) 
"Let  him  be  disciplined" — still  seems  the  cry. 
Echo  the  inquisitorial  ages 
Amen and  amen  ! 

Away  from  such  life,  its  zests  and  its  condiments, 

Leads  a  lone  path  which  beckons — allures 

With  promise  the  fairest. 

'Tis  bordered  with  wild-flowers,  defiles  thro'  the  pine  groves 

Now  beside  the  still  waters,  anon  thro'  a  glen, 

And  tho'  I  seem  lonely  as  wandering  I  muse, 

A  sad  recluse  perchance 

Or  hapless  dupe  of  wizard,  mania  or  dream, 

To  number  my  friends  is  to  count  all  the  stars, 

Yea,  all  that  hath  breath  and  breathes  it  in  purity, 

Nay, — seems  is  not  trustworthy. 

I  walk  not  alone. 


16  THE   SEEKING. 

[A  distant,  plaintive  call  causes  him  to  pause.] 

I  hear  a  voice  calling.     How  familiar — how  suppliant ! 

It  floats  down  a  vista  that  leads  to  bright  yesterdays — 

Rose-scented  yesterdays. 

"  Return  to  the  garden  of  Eden,  mad  wanderer, 

Nor  forfeit  thine  heirship  and  stewardship  dutiful 

Portioned  to  thee  without  right  of  release 

Or  retreat  from  community  and  the  world's  common  service, 

Howe'er  they  harass  thee  and  prey  on  thy  sanctities  " 

It  beseeching  adviseth. 

Tho'  unheeded  its  warnings, 

Heart-sent  are  its  pleadings 

And  heart-moved  I  follow  in  the  wake  of  its  urge. 

{Some  time  transpires^ 

{Nameless  returned  to  former  habitudes] 
{Despairingly^ 

Once  again  in  the  vortex ! 

'Mid  the  swirl  and  the  din — the  froth  and  the  foam — 

Harsh  jostling  of  churls  and  vaporings  noxious, 

The  voice  has  immured  me. 

To  buffet  the  waves  that  rush  to  engulf  or  cajole  me  to 

seaward 

I  nothing  am  daunted. 
But  what  bodes  it  all  ? 


THE   SEEKING.  17 

This  voice  that  would  make  me  its  vassal,  retainer, 

Is  it  stern  Duty's  own  or  that  of  some  zealot 

World-wise  and  under-taught 

Screaming  utility  and  the  gospel  of  real  ? 

If  Duty  so  speak,  strange  that  befriender  should  know  me 

so  futilely. 
I  crave  closer  acquaintance. 

\Inexorably.} 

From  out  this  fell  sway  of  the  sense-world  I  haste — 
This  puppet-show  life — this  harlequin  dance — this  con- 
tract with  Pleasure — 

These  wiles  that  becloud  tho'  they  may  not  begrime. 
I  cannot  but  sever  these  toys  for  man's  childhood — 
These  rude  signs  and  tutors — a  bane  when  outgrown, 
From  the  cordials — elixirs — that  quicken — infuse — 
Restore  the  soul's  birthright  and' flash  its  sublimity 
Afar  in  the  darkness  ! 

The  black  gloom  freezing  in  rigors  of  dread 
At  its  omnific  might ! 

[Turns  his  footsteps  to  his  favorite  peaceful  haunts^ 

Again  my  woodland  solitudes  I  trace,  deliv'rance  finding 
In  the  calm,  reposeful  haunts  of  rustling  trees. 


18  THE   SEEKING. 

With  floating,  scented,  cadences 

And  murm'ring,  eerie  silences 

I  hold  a  converse  sweet  and  free  as  any  fairy  or  sylph. 

Their  tender,  soothing  welcoming 

The  inner  wind-harp  softly  thrills. 

I  listen  well — I  listen  tense. 

'Tis  then  the  soul  spreads  its  illume, 

Expands  from  bud  to  snowy-petaled  flower 

And  laves  me  in  a  virgin  spray 

Holier  than  breath  of  gloried  morn  in  May. 

\Falls  into  a  dreamy  siesta  under  the  frees.'] 
{Starts  up, — rudely  aroused^ 

Alas  !  'tis  a  harsh  and  discordant  reminder — 
The  -bray  of  the  senses — it  shrills  at  my  ears. 
I  go  with  them  far  as  I  must  but  no  further. 
Go  with  me  my  soul. 

{Retraces  his  steps  dejectedly— after  going  some  distance,  he  hears  soft  music- 
wanders  off  from  the  path  and  comes  to  a  beautiful  hillside  covered  with  wild-powers 
•which  he  discovers  exhale  the  music — sits  'mid  the  thick  of  the  Jlowers  and  gives 
play  to  the  entrancing  influences  surrounding— a  glow  comes  over  him  as  he  feels 
the  approach  of  a  magic  influence — his  mood  becomes  buoyant,  and  as  the  music  of 
the.fiowers  grows  more  distinct  he  joins  in,  softly  singing ; 

Of  beauteous  flowers — 

Earth's  comeliest  dowers, 

Pain-redeeming, 

In  gladness  teeming, 


THE  SEEKING.  19 

The  which  are  seraph-smiles,  they  say, 
Blooming  in  perpetual  May, 
Breathing  out  in  incense-prayer 
Gratitude  for  life  so  fair, 
Shapes  conformed  in  Beauty's  matrix, 
Sprinkled  quick  with  rainbow-aura, 
Scattered,  then,  in  myriad  places. 
Mark  their  upturned,  puresome  faces 
Sensate  man ! 
Their  meanings  scan. 
Ah,  yes, — of  petals'  lovely  guise 
Looking  from  deeps  with  spirit-eyes, 
A  sun-christened  maid  is  archetype. 

\Afarm  steps  forth  out  of  the  invisible^ 

ETHERIA: 

I  am  the  glad,  golden  glister  that  drowns  thee: 
Daphne's  aroma  and  attar  of  rose 
I  scatter  in  mist  'round  thy  comings  and  goings. 
If  I  should  chide  thee  when  thou  look'st  sad 
What  canst  thou  say  ? 
What  wilt  thou  do  to  me  ? 
Ever  so  tenderly  now  do  I  dare  thee 
To  cobweb  thy  brow— conjure  a  sigh 
Or  cast  thy  glad  eyes  away  into  vacancy. 


20  THE   SEEKING. 

I'm  a  sweeper  of  cobwebs. 

That  thou  canst  not  deny. 

One  wave  of  my  wand  charms  away  any  sigh. 

Look  .  .  .  me .  .  .  straight  i'  the  eye. 

[He  looks  and  smites.] 

Dost  thou  know  my  real  name  ? 

It  is  Starbeam- — I  came  from  that  bright,  gleaming  star 

That  peers  out  of  the  west  at  the  glad,  rosy  sunset. 

I'm  always  at  sunsets ;  I  never  yet  missed  one, 

But  thou  hast  missed  many  on  bleak,  cloudy  days 

[Tearfully^     When  I've  been  away. 

And  ah, — that  reminds  me 

[Brightening up  agaln^       I've  a  secret  to  tell  theC. 

£ome  near  while  I  whisper. 

Whene'er  thy  day 's  cloudy, 
Instead  of  repining 
Go  under  our  tryst-tree — 
Our  heart-song  breathe  warmly, 
Then,  toward  the  west  facing, 
Thine  eye-balls  press  gently 
Till  thou  hast  spelt  Starbeam. 
I'll  be  with  thee  straight 
And  stay  for  the  day. 


THE  SEEKING.  21 

[  With  an  arch  smile^\ 

Mine  is  a  fixed  star, 

A  sun, — you  see — that  never  sets, 

And  so  thou'lt  know  I'm  always  there 

Behind  the  clouds,  however  they  frown 

And  empty  their  buckets  of  dreariness  down, 

Thank  your  stars  ! 

thro'  a  strainer. 

[Serunufy.] 

But  O,  be  thou  happy  each  day  as  it  o'ertakes  thee. 
Never  can  I  bear  to  speak  to  a  day  that  brings  thee  grief. 

Thou  'rt  born  for  rarest  happiness. 

So  says  my  star. 

It  ought  to  know. 

Besides,  its  signs  lurk  in  thy  face. 

I  hold  the  key. 

They're  meant  for  me. 

This  world  is  fair. 

How  passing  fair ! 

Just  back  of  yon  hill  is  our  Arcady. 

Hand  in  hand  with  thy  Starbeam  walk 

In  the  sunshine  and  truth  of  the  ideal  life. 

On  May-day,  at  even,  I'm  with  thee  again. 

{She  culls  a  handful  of  the  flowers  at  one  reach  and  bears  them  away  with  her 
into  the  invisible  after  tokening  him  with  a 


22  THE  SEEKING. 

NAMELESS: 

Ah  !  Vision  of  loveliness  — 
Sun-christened  sprite  ! 

Lily-white  bloom  of  my  heart's  tend'rest  wish. 
Go  not  so  soon. 
I  languish  without  thee  — 
Crave  thy  sweet  lingering,  O,  my  beatitude  ! 
Wave  but  thy  wand. 
Bring  May-day  at  even 
Or  Knight-of-the-Starbeam  must  sink  in  despair  ! 

[  Gazes,  in  a  tremor  —  no  reappearance  —  lapses  into  a  fit  of  melancholy^ 


\After  a  time,  Nameless  wanders  pensively  back  to  the 

Alas  !  my  bright  fairy  knows  not  what  she  is  to  me. 
Can  she  e'er  know  ? 

[Pauses,  reflectively^ 

The  ideal  life  —  ah,  'tis  that  which  I  seek. 
But  what  if  my  Arcady  differ  from  hers  — 
Be  further  away  —  to  her  strange  and  unknown, 
High  up  on  a  mountain-crest  steep  of  approach, 
To  humans  unparadised  ! 

Of  the  reach  of  the  life  transcendent,  unprofane 
My  thought  would  adequate  descant  :  — 


THE  SEEKING.  23 

A  soothfastness  volitioned  and  single-eyed, 

A  love  earth-free,  spirit-pure,  nor  stayed  by  unrequite, 

In  silent,  shoreless  rivers  spontaneous  outpoured, 

Whelming  all  sharers  of  the  mystic  throb  of  life 

In  one  unfathomed,  surging  flow 

Of  sympathy  kind  as  sunshine's  glow 

Broadly,  benignly  spreading ; 

A  self-law  unselfed, 

Outer  ruled — inner  ruling, 

The  realm  of  the  known 

By  its  thought-wielding  knower — 

Reflect  in  the  doer 

Full  royally  sceptered. 

No  dissonance  hearing 

In  the  harmonied  rhythm 

Of  law  all-compassing — - 

Wisdom-blended ; 

Like  the  lustral  calm  outbreathing — 
Calm  of  the  hill-top  at  summer  dawning — 
Matins  for  the  fuller  light — 
Virgin  airs  the  white  Light  seeking, 
Like  the  restful  calm  of  eve — 


24  THE  SEEKING. 


Gloried  stillness  tenderly  star-dropt — 
In  meekness  yielding  irradiant  joys 
To  joyless  night 
When  lowers  heart's  oppress. 


[His  thoughts  grow  more  exalted— he  cannot  preserve  his  wonted  calmnsss—he  is 
unable  to  mentally  delineate  his  fuller  aspiration, — -presently  there  breaks  upon  ike 
stillness^a  choiring  of  voices  in  unison  of  superhuman  purity  and  grace — in  throbbing 
expectancy,  he  listens  /] 


CHORUS  OF  INVISIBLES. 

(Adagio  nobile  tranquillo.) 

Far far  .  ...  at  unmeasured  remove  from  the 

life  of  frail  humans 
Nor  earthy,  nor  fleshly  distraint  and  defile  there  gaining 

intrusion, 
On  hights  of  resplendence  suffused  with  the  Love- Light 

ineffable — 

Hearts  in  the  great  Heart  immersed — 
Minds  touching  Mind  in  white  thought-flow — 
Souls  quaffing  deep  of  the  space-flooding  True  ! 
Form  and  the  sense-world   in  vapory  nothings — pigmy 

abstractions — dissolving ; 

There there tho'  vestured  yet  in  vest- 
ment of  mortals, 


THE  SEEKING.  25 

Life  superhuman  Truth's  denizen  liveth 
In  works  of  great  moment  co-worker. 

Thitherward  turn  the  immortals — 
Victoried  strivers  with  darkness — 
Statures  of  mortals  amplificate — 
Grandly  unmoved  by  the  tumults  of  humans — 
Banishing  plaint  for  the  life  that  now  is. 
Verily  they  that  seek  do  find. 

Life  in  all  states  hath  a  perfect. 
Purely  sees  who  purity  is. 
In  the  pure  life  of  spirit  bounds  are  not. 
Only  the  pureless  are  bounden. 
Wisely  their  eyes  are  holden. 

Gaze,  O,  gaze ! 

As  we  highten  our  rays 

And  limn  the  orient  haunts  of  Peace. 

[  The  vision  appears. ,] 

NAMELESS; 

[Startled  and  breathless^ 

It  rises  before  me  in  phantom  superlative. 

Its  peaks  touch  the  heavens — they  are  livid  with  glory ! 


26  THE  SEEKING. 

See ! — it  looks  back  in  sadness  at  Earth's  dusky  present. 
Ah,  no,  'tis  no  fatal  mirage  that  would  lead  me 
To  cravings  fanatic  or  pit-falls  self-harmful. 

[  The  intense  light  dazzles  him  and  he  must  needs  turn  away — looks  again  but  the 
vision  has  vanished — given  up  to  his  emotions,  he  cries  out  imploringly  .•] 

O,  Soul !  is  it  meet  or  unmeet  to  pursue  it  ? 
SOUL: 

[Benignly.} 

I  am  thy  mentor — 

Thy  true  magnetic  needle. 

Unerring  do  I  point  thee  to  the  pole-star,  Rectitude — 

Sovereign  star  of  all — 

The  North — whereby  all  mariners 

Must  steer  their  course  o'er  life's  vast  sea. 

I  charge  thee  live  the  life  ideal, 

Not  merely  think  it, 

Nay, — nor  live  it  haply  in  some  future 

But  now — where  thou  art  placed. 

Neither  thy  law  expect  to  stand 

To  others  equally  confessed 

Ere  yet  their  souls  are  trustingly  enthroned. 

Ponder  these  things. 


THE  SEEKING.  27 

Let  charity — love — flow  from  thee  in  rivers. 

Pour  self  into  not-self  and  Self  universal. 

How  to  suit  means  to  ends  comes  not  in  my  province. 

I  know  not  conventions — conditions — appliances. 

Thyself  is  the  joiner. 

Raise  thine  own  structure  and  leave  in  the  basement  fit 

place  for  the  senses ' 
Till  thou  hast  outlived  them. 
More  than  this  it  behooveth  me  not  to  disclose. 
Look  for  that  in  the  time  thou  art  quit  of  thy  Present. 
Then,  I  shall  be  thou  and  thou  shalt  be  one. 
As  thou  dost  fit  thyself  wisdom  to  covet 
The  Sphinx  must  confide  it. 
It  rests  with  thyself ! 
Ideals  deceive  not,  tho'  strangely  elusive, 
Live  the  ideal 
Now  and  still  now, 
As  thou  dost  see  it. 

[Significantly.] 

Ever  have  courage  to  go  where  it  leadeth. 

EGO  : 

Yes,  the  ideal. 

But  how  to  reach  that  dangered  hight? 


28  THE  SEEKING. 

No  stairway  beckons. 

Heaven  no  ladder  proffereth 

Round  upon  round  to  mount. 

Wings  to  cleave  the  airy  main  ? 

Never  so  surely  fadeth  the  flower  of  new-born  wish 

Ere  yet  'tis  all  abloom — as  this  : 

To  soar  as  soars  the  dove. 

How  rend  the  chains  of  environment  ? 
How  build  a  wall  'round  aspiration 
To  stay  the  profane  of  infantile  minds  ? 
What  peace  is  found  'mid  a  crass  unrest  ? 
How  yoke  with  idolaters'  Juggernaut — 

Mammon-enslaving — 

Babylon-ruling ! 
And  fend  an  unholy  self-sacrifice  ? 

Ah,  vain  is  the  hope  for  a  sheer  unattainable. 

How  speaketh  the  Soul 

So  calmly  confiding — 

So  mystic-instilling — 

So  reason-transcending  ? 

What  is  life — by  its  law 

But  death — by  the  prevalent  ? 


THE  SEEKING. 

SOUL:  [  With  transcendent  tenderness.'} 

Ever  the  star-lit  eyes 
Shall  gaze  on  the  unattained. 
Ever  the  rainbow's  ahead. 
Subtly  elusive  its  shifting. 
Think' st  thou  arrival  comes  never, 

Or  hides  it — 

dissolving  in  endless  endeavor  ? 


THE 


(Timoroso. — "Tremendo  diminuendo.— Poco  a  poco  largo. — 
Larghissimo.) 


[Nameless,  arriving  at  the  edge  of  the  wood,  sits  upon  a  grassy  knoll  and  gazes 
meditatively  into  the  deep,  still  water  of  the  lake  at  his  feet — it  is  a  cloudless  day 
and  in  the  water  is  vividly  reflected  the  sky — suddenly  appears  mirrored  in  the 
azured  lake,  by  some  invisible  agency  above,  these  words,  in  aureolic  letters : — ] 


ADON-AI: 

There  is — that  in  secret  transports 
Every  consecrate  Would-Be  to  the  haven  of  surety. 
Thence  speeds  it  forth  to  the  Now  and  Here 
Swiftly  as  thought — the  magnific  of  motion — 
Scepter  and  soul  of  it ! 
Circuits  the  map  of  the  cosmic  immensities 
Drawing  the  eons — all  space — to  a  point. 
What  most  is  called  real 


32  THE  FINDING. 

Is  naught  but  Real's  mask. 

Follow  Ideal  !  [The  vision  vanishes] 

Up  to  me  if  thou  darest. 

[The  last  line  has  vanished  just  before  he  gets  to  it,  along  with  the  rest,  as  he 
reads— he  retains  no  further  impression  of  it  than  the  first  word  and  part  of  the 
last :  UP  and  DARE.] 

[A  new  and  strange  excitement  comes  over  him— he  is  seized  with  a  rigor — it 
grows  upon  him — a  malignant  presence  confronts  him — he  bids  it  speak  its  worst.] 

FEAR: 

[Ominously — rising  to  frantic  realism  of  what  is  portrayed.] 

Yet  hearken  well,  bold  aspirant ! 
I,  tho'  a  stranger,  but  quondam  friend, 
Hold  the  odds  against  thee  now. 
Now  art  thou  adjured,  witling  : — 

Blackened  and  scarred  by  the  wrath  of  Elementals, 
Blasted  and  chasmed  by  the  fury  of  Gorgon — 

Demoniac  shrieks ! — 

The  hiss  and  the  venom  of  tempters  malign 
Writhing  to  clutch  for  their  own  horrid  uses 
Powers  might  loose  accursed  Chaos — ghastly  Ruin. 
To  torture  and  rack  into  gibbering  frenzy 
The  souls  of  the  many ! 

[Nameless,  dazed  and  tremulous,  covers  his  face.] 


THE   FINDING.  33 

Gaped  at  and  fumed  against  by  these  horrors  dire, 
The  mad,  reeling  wield  of  Apollyon  enthroned — 

Perils  unspeakable ! 

Seductions  unnerving ! 

Is  the  desolate  pass  leading  up  thro'  the  steeps — 
The  dread  realm  of  Awe ! 
Frail  man  stuns  senseless, 
Yea,  bends  him  in  homage — 
From  his  lowlands  of  ignorance 
To  the  hights  of  the  God-man ! 

[Sneeringly,} 

These  for  thy  portents — 

Best  of  all  solaces. 

This  very  night  will  I  sweeten  thy  dreams  with  them, 

Thou  would-be  fool  when  thou  mights't  be  a  wise-one 

And  pet  of  the  world ! 

• 
NAMELESS: 

Avaunt,  prating  craven !     Impostor ! 

I've  nothing  with  thee. 

Ply  thine  arts  and  thy  sorceries — 

Thy  hobgoblin  tales — 

Where  cringes  poltroonery. 


34  •  THE  FINDING. 

FEAR: 

Grim  philosoph  I, 
Outdone  by  no  simpleton. 
Have  seen  wiselings  like  thee 
Bring  up  in  a  mad-house 
For  spurning  mine  offices. 
Much  have  I  with  thee, 
Albeit  "  nothing  "  with  me, 
In  a  tremble  thou  'rt  gibbering. 

A  friend  of  rare  value 

In  ultra  emergencies 

I  am  minded  to  summon. 

Woulds't  thou  look  upon  beauty — 

Beauty's  own  doweress 

Fair  Medusa  will  charm  thee. 

Ay — mend  thy  cracked  brain, 

Tie  up  thy  wits  in  a  knot  of  hard  sense — 

Do  thee  in  art — 

Thine  own  sculptor  make  thee — 

Eke — thyself  thine  own  idol ! 

Since  that  seems  thy  bent. 


THE  FINDING.  35 

NAMELESS: 

Arch  deluder !     Pretender !     Undoer ! 
Forger  of  shackles  that  make  men  to  crawl ! 
Thralldom's  Black  Prince ! 
I  am  thy  master. 
I  serve  another. 
Take  thyself  hence.  [Fear  slinks  off '.] 

[Nameless,  having  recovered  composure,  begins  to  think  deeply  of  the  words  of 
the  Planetary  Spirit,  Adon=ai,  the  last  two  especially  which  he  barely  caught, 
viz —  Up  and  Dare.} 

Those  words  and  their  import — 
How  they  thrill  my  whole  being ! 
In  the  boundless  immerse  me ! 
My  vast  empire  unroll ! 
What  were  limits  ....  are  none. 
I  expand  ....  expand  they 
And  ideal 
Without  end! 

But  that  it  behooved  not  my  soul  to  communicate ; 
What  of  that,  mighty  potentate — 
Sense-world's  annuller  ? 

SOUL:  [Austerely.] 

Daring  idealist ! 
For  that  which  might  unman  and  rend  thee 


36  THE   FINDING. 

Still  dost  thou  thirst  ? 

More  than  sufficeth  for  needs  of  the  present 

Is  thine  to  command. 

Thyself 's  to  command  unto  purposive  action 

For  work  in  thy  vineyard. 

Think  thy  knowledge  in  crystals — 

Deeds — that  ennoble,  uplift  and  emancipate. 

True, — sense  is  a  cipher 

But  joined  to  a  quantum  described  in  ideal 

Tenfold  will  enhance  it. 

But  think  more  in  crystals 

And  thou  'It  think  less  in  star-dust 

That  scatt'reth  efficiencies — 

Drives  from  thee  thy  kind. 

I  solemnly  charge  thee : 
Tempt  not  the  future. 
Forsake  not  the  present ! 


[Nameless  cannot  be  quieted— starts  back  convulsively  at  what  seems  to  stand  out 
before^im  inflaming  letters :~[ 


ADON=AI: 

Follow  Ideal !  I 


THE  FINDING.  * 

NAMELESS: 

How  follow  ? — where  follow 
If  not  toward  man's  future — • 
My  true,  mystic  heirship  ? 

SOUL:         (Aside.) 

Ah  !  the  rim  of  the  Self-Law— 

The  Auto-deific ! 

Great  secret  of  secrets — 

The  key  of  my  power — 

Unlocks  the  arcanum ! 

He  fearless  approacheth. 

{Piercing  Nameless  with  a  searching  look.] 

Has  he  aught  of  desire 
Unquenchable — masterful 
To  the  earth-life  to  bind  him  ? 
Has  he  courage  sublime  ? 

[After  complete  penetration,  Soul  appears  dubious  of  unequivocal  answers.] 

NAMELESS: 

The  gift  of  divining  think'st  thou  I  have  not 
When  thyself  hast  vouchsafed  it  me  ? 
The  thought  in  thy  whisper — 
Think'st  thou  it  germeth  not  yet  in  mine  augury  ? 


38  THE  FINDING. 

What  thou  dost  descry — 
What  gives  thee  disquiet — 
I  fain  would  unravel. 
It  burdens  my  solitude. 

Yet  will  I  compass  it. 

SOUL: 

It  rests  with  thyself! 

NAMELESS:  [Introspectivefy.] 

What  of  desire  ? 
Let  me  adjudge  it. 

A  precept  cardinal 

Of  this  star-lit  path  I  follow 

In  this  wise  hath  it : 

"  Quench  desire  ! " 

Ah  !  is  it  not  of  Purity  the  diadem  ? 

What,  in  the  glowing  constellation 

Of  gem-thoughts  studding  all  high  aspire  throughout  the 

ages 

More  truly  is  the  lamp 
Lit  in  the  illume  of  the  empyrean 


THE  FINDING.  39 

That  brightest  gleams 

Athwart  the  darksome  way  of  every  questor 

Intent  upon  the  holy  mount  of  Truth  ? 

To  essay  the  ascent 

The  watchword  never  can  be  else  or  less. 

Quench — yea,  without  stint  or  sparing 

Whate'er  betrays  alloy  with  mere  indulgence ' 

For  with  much  stealth  the  inner  sense  it  clogs. 

Well  do  I  know  and  truly 
The  genius  of  this  counsel — 

Grave profound ! 

Yet  oft  decried  as  folly. 
Where  the  quickened  spirit  is 
Naught  gainsays  this  wisdom  lofty. 
Where  it  is  not 
Wisdom  yet  slumbereth. 

But  when  amid  this  earth-maze  intricate, 
The  while  to  grope  its  devious  ways 
We  are  constrained — without  appeal, 
There  entereth  the  sacred  cloister 
Of  our  inmost  thought  divine 
By  secret  portal  ne'er  yet  opened 


40  THE   FINDING. 

A  pulsing  stream  of  sympathy 

That  knoweth  well  its  true,  eternal  home 

At  last  is  found ! 

And  kindleth  there  a  very  altar-flame 

Of  life  exalted ! 

When — in  such  course 

Burst  open  wide  the  magic  gates 

Bent  with  weight  of  mighty  secrets, 

Blazing  forth  the  destiny  magnific 

That  points  man  to  the  godhood 

He  but  willeth  to  attain  ! 

Then  is  desire  transfigured  ! 

Then  is  it  a  thirsting  for  the  living  God ! 

Then  does  soul-flowed  sympathy  work  miracles 

And  I  may  quaff  purely  of  its  waters. 

A  LT  E  R I A :  [Interiorly  and  occultly^ 

Blest  are  the  spirit-pure — my  pure 

Who  into  the  soul-life  hath  entrance  gained. 

Face  to  face  with  the  Indweller  have  I  brought  him — 

Soul  of  my  soul ! — life  of  my  life ! 

Seeking  in  Etheria  the  transcendent, 

Me  hath  he  found,  unknowing, 

Jn  the  sweet  virgin  mirrored. 


THE   FINDING.  41 

NAMELESS: 

{Continuing— not  aware  of  the  mystic  undertones^ 

Ah,  pure — pure  essence  of  the  All-Life  spiritual ! 
How  shineth  forth  thy  mystic  aureole  supernal 
For  the  eyes  that  can  receive  its  rayless  light ! 

ALTERIA: 

Ah  !  truly  doth  he  know  the  love  divine — the  ecstasy  of  it. 
Early  hath  he  sought — early  found  me. 
Of  the  holy  twice-born  of  water  and  the  spirit  is  he. 
Why  in  this  earth-land  alien  longer  tarrieth  he  ? 
Ah,  know  I  not  Etheria  it  is  he  awaiteth. 

NAMELESS: 

{After  another  hushed  pause,  seemingly  involuntary  with  him^\ 

And  from  this  wondrous  holy,  immaculate  soul-union 

Shall  be  create  no  scion  of  earth 

Whereby  in  outlived  soil  of  earth  to  painfully  involve  it, 

For  what  is  earthly  pain  and  woe 

But  a  no-escaping  prod  to  work  its  cure  ? 

And  what  the  cure 

Unless  the  grand-intended,  will-unbended  uplift  from  the 

temporal  ? 
The  which  I  see  fulfilled. 


42  THE   FINDING. 

ALTER  I A  :  [Inwardly— to  Etheria^ 

O,  Etheria,  thou  virgin  mild  and  lily-guised  : 

Art  thou  of  the  inner-eyed — the  immaculate-minded  ? 

Seest  thou  the  virgin's  apocalypse  dawning — 

The  dawn  divine  for  blessed  woman 

In  the  east  of  her  new  mission  breaking  ? 

Mission  which  in  the  conceiving 

More  than  woman  maketh  her — higher  enthroneth  her 

Until  she  becometh  arch-angeled, 

Spiritward  pointing  the  earth-children  ! 

O,  virgin,  thou  crowning  thought  of  the  Ineffable! 
Breath  of  the  holy  Love-Breather  ere  by  the  earth-mists 

tinctured ! 

Thine  heart — in  the  white-heats  sublime  it. 
Heart's  desire ! — let  it  prayerful  dissolve  and  flow 
In  love-rills  seraphic 
Back  thro'  the  spirit-inlets 
Unto  the  font  baptismal 
Where  welleth  up  quint essent  joys 
To  memory  lost  since  thine  earth-flights — 
Lost  since  thy  being's  estranging 
From  habitudes  stayed  in  the  supercelestial, 
Life  that  is  whiteness  induing. 


THE  FINDING.  43 

Life  that  is  love's  deificate  ! 

Love  that  is  human-transcending  ! 

In  a  glad-and-sad  symphony  blending 

Wake  thee  from  soul-slumber  dulling  'mid  mute  surprise, 

Wake  thee  to  thrills  and  the  ravishment 

Of  consecrate  yearnings  and  prayer-dropping  tears, 

Whelming  thine  heart-deeps  with  hopes  that  tremble  for 

such  hoping 
And  pangs  of  joy  beatific  ! 

Thou  that  sleepest,  awake ! 
True  paradise  waits  thee. 
Ensouled  in  thee  shall  be  Alteria. 

NAMELESS: 

\Witk  calm  penetration — no  longer  unaware  of  Alteria' s  presence^ 

O,  verity  that  crowneth  all ! 

Now  is  this  darksome  earth-sphere  become  a  very  morn- 
ing-land ! 

Where  for  laws  primeval  of  existence  are  exchanged 
Laws  preeminent,  eternal — of  pure  being. 
And  there  shall  be  create  that  which  is  born  for  the  life 

eterne — 
An  ideal ! 


44  THE  FINDING. 

That  shall  take  the  very  potence  of  a  god ! 

For  now  ....  now  upon  the  hights  do  I  see  truly 

The  shining  goal  of  mine  aspirings. 

The  secret  of  the  ever-shifting  unattained 

Its  crystal  glisten  now  distills. 

O,  Etheria — my  soul's  own  ! — come  ! 

\Etheria  has  been  impressed  by  Alteria's  mystic  call,  in  spite  of  herself— advances 
unnoticed  to  the  side  of  Nameless^ 

Thy  vision  clear 

And  this  behold : 

My — our — ideal  of  all  ideals  no  other  is 

Than   our  own   divinely-natived   love  and   wisdom   full- 

supremed ! 

Known — only  as  our  very  self  becometh  that  we  seek — 
Even  our  God ! 
Which  to  know  is  to  MAKE  ! ! 

So  alone  is  ever  the  UNNAMED  imaged  and  declared. 


ETHERIA: 

Now  in  the  white  Light  doth  it  appear  how  unspeakably 
sacred  'tis  to  live. 


THE  FINDING.  45 

NAMELESS: 

Yet  hallowed  and  evidenced  only  as  the  life  ceaseless 
advanceth  spiritward. 

v 
Let  us  dare  to  think  upon  That  we  shall  be ! 

\Tkeir  eyes  are  upturned— their  faces  are  illumined^ 


EPITOME. 


ETHERIA: 

Clamber  as  the  clinging  vine  should  the  life-ideal, 
Rearing  self-reliance — thine  oak-tree — for  support. 

NAMELESS; 

Earth  the  budding  Would-Be  raiseth, 
Mayhap  sees  its  richest  flowering. 

SOUL: 
But  the  golden  Nows — the  fruitage  ? 

ALTERIA: 

Blest  to-days  that  ever  linger — 
Life  stepped  forth  from  cherished  pictures 
Hung  by  Faith  in  spiring  stairways  up  the  past ; 

NAMELESS: 
Earth  must  consume  in  such  white-heats  of  fervor. 


48  EPITOME. 

EGO: 

Ah,  truly !  My  days  and  my  mission — they  haste  to  their 
end! 

NAMELESS; 
Since  Being  is  selfless. 

Wisely  we  follow  ideal  where  it  leadeth. 

EGO: 

To  the  end  I  resign  me. 
Survive,  O,  ye  that  are  most  fitted  for  the  larger  life ! 

NAMELESS,  SOUL,  ALTERIA; 
To  be  as  one  emancipate — 
This  alone  doth  show  things  as  they  are 
And  attune  the  understanding  unto  that  mirific  Voice 
Which  to  hear  is  to  live  by ! 


APOSTROPHE 


REALIST. 


By  the  Auto-Deifier. 

(Grave  e  grandiose.) 

O, thou human  ephemeral ! 

Whose  thought  is  as  the  fleeting  day  and  to  a  day's  breadth 

shriveled, — 

Royalty  in  exile  drooping ! 
Shorn  of  the  fruits  of  the  royal : — 
Count  it  no  marvel,  no  ungrace  for  that  thou  thus  art 

plaintless  charactered ; 
My  throneless  realm — kingdom  not  of  thy  world — abode 

of  the  Gnosis 

Deep  in  the  silence-haunted  crypt  of  the  temple  of  Wis- 
dom gated, 


52  APOSTROPHE. 

Wherein  doth  magical,   entheal  hymn  the  silences  Peace 

and  the  Pure  doth  sentry  well, 
Dread-black  folds  of  darkness  thick  and  gross, 
Dark  of  the  nether — the  outer — the  rank  spurious — 
Maya's  dense  veil  close  woven,  closer  drawn 
Over  the  face  of  the  Formless 
Down  .  .  .  down  .  .  .  into     finitude    fulgently    darting 

sapient,  vivific  glances ! 
There's  to  pierce  to  apprehend  ; 
There's  to  rive  with  venture  magnifical 
To  perceive  mine  identity — 
Face  the  arcanum  ! 


Dweller  in  the  void ! 

Earth-child   unwitting   entombed   in   the   earth-mold    of 

semblance : — 

Thick,  choking,  soul-blighting  sense-dark 
Exhaling  intoxicant  fumes  that  in  sense-pleasures  torpor 

thee 
Thy  walk  in  high  places — thy  shining  goal  'mid  their 

cloud-piercing  summits, 

Thine,  of  a  truth,  thro'  vast  reaches  of  time-distance 
Stretching  far  out  from  inscrutable  Alphas 


APOSTROPHE.  53 

Shrouds  and  oblivions — 
Thou  the  arch-darkener  \ 

As  in  chasm  dtead,  floorless,  insatiate 

The  pride  of  thy  sun-sphere  its  glory  forgetteth, 

Its   etherous  brightness   profundity-fronted   into   leaden 

gloom  condensing, 
So   rayless — flung    awry    into    impotence    opaque — the 

gleams  of  the  earth-mind  coruscate 
On  lighting  the  indeeps  of  wisdom  proud-bent 
Fatefully  become, 

Vantaged  naught  by  subtlest  astute 
In  puissant  strive  and  arts  of  sage  intent 
Vacuous  earth-mind  1     Vanity-breeder  I 
Thine  be  the  odium — thou,  the  soul's  duress  fc 
Palsied  shalt  thou  ever  be  in  the  hissing  stare  of  dire 
negation !  ( 

(Molto  elevato.) 

.  O, thou universe-possessor!    :— 

Why  settest  thou  enrigored  limits  to  man's  right  of  em- 
inent domain  ? 

Why  raisest  thou  the  prison-walls  of  little  self  and  want 
imbruting; 


54  APOSTROPHE. 

The  while  to  inveigh  and  chafe  as  vehement  chafes  the 

freedom-denied » 
'Gainst  what  but  the  mad  infliction  of  captive  unwary 

self-captivate  ? 
Wouldst  thou  the  changeless,  the  permanent  inhabit — the 

vast  survey — amplitude  traverse  ? 

Poised  at  the  inmost  centric  of  circles  on  circles  of  being, 
Omnist  wouldst  thou  artless  be — 
Rectitude's  geometer 
Out  in  the  illimit  stretching 
Compasses  joined  at  Truth's  evanishing-point 
And  in  the  all-knowing  fulcrumed 
Where  the  knowers  unhumaned  that  shall  be 
With  it  common  cause  doth  make  ? 


If  to  so  magnify  and  exalt  thy  viewless  powers 

That  do  but  wait  upon  intrepid  summons, 

If  to  consort  and  lofty  converse  hold  with  sempiternal 

verities — 
Life-throbs  of  the  space-imbuing  aura  of  th'  immutate 

Real  wherein  the  gods  do  habit — 

Thoughts  that  to  the  soul  are  volant  couriers  from  purer 
spheres 


APOSTEOPHE.  55 

Winging  electric  their  imperate,  time-nulling  courses 

Far  from  purblind  ken  of  mortals  distanced, 

If  to  such  attain  thou  e'er  shouldst  mighty-purposed  be — 

scornful  of  dolor — calm  amid  stress, 
Mark, — O,  alien  from  thy  summited  prerogative  ! 
How  tongues  th'enwisdomed  Oracle  of  the  humanless 

Within 
In  accents  keen-searching  to  prurient  heart  as  caustic  is 

to  proud-flesh : 
"  Utterly  cast  forth  self. 

And  whether  there  be  joy,  hope,  fear,  vantage  or  renown 
From  the  great  sumless — all-oneness  of  life-breathers — 

covetous-parted, 

Count  it  but  dross — dust  in  the  eyes — the  all-view  filming 
And  thyself  in  thine  own  light  standing ! " 

(Lamentoso.) 

Alas  for  the  self  ly ! 

That  doth  pervert  and  jeopard,  yea,  in  mode  and  temper 

of  the  brute 

Opulent  bestowments  fit  for  kingliest  adorn 
From  fontal  plenitudes  of  spotless  grace  and  pulsing 
virtue  lavish  dropt. 


56  APOSTROPHE. 

Lo !   hence  is  the  great  commonalty  sightless  for  views 

firmamental.  s 

Hence  is  man  unmanned  and  suicided  ! 
Hence  are  potentials  frustrate 
And,  to  and  fro'  across  the  speculum  of  time 
Thou  seest  a  surging  thick  of  dwarfish  shadows  glide, 
Your  mundane  chosen  ones  and  strong,  force-dealing  po- 
tentates 
A  clearer  outline  showing,  yet  naught  above  the  common 

level  do  they  loom, 

Since  that  which  greatness  was  to  them,  'mid  loud  acclaim 
And  is,  of   need,  to  earth-esteem  profane  where'er  'tis 

theatered, 

Hath  value  none  and  sanction  slight  in  the  immortal  code. 
But  mark — as  'mid  the  spectered  press  is  vivid  cast  upon 

the  omniform  reflect 
A  shadow  of  mien  majestic — giantesque, 
While  lowly-garbed,  unsought  and  uncompanioned. 

(Nobilimente.) 

Rising  serene  above  the  rest 
Behold  the  soul-magian ! 

Destined  not  for  epic's  touch  nor  yet  for  history's  dress, 
Whose  form,  with  head  uplift,  doth  solemn  pass,  inviting 
scrutiny. 


APOSTROPHE.  57 

O,  thou,  who  with  thine  Inmost  lackest  free  acquaint — 

contemplate ! 

'Tis  one  of  the  nobility-at-large, 
Acknowledged  not — for  knowledge  meet  there  scarce  is 

found  save  with  th'  unseen. 
Nay — draw  not   admonish — make   not  obeisance  unless 

'twere  void  of  surface-manifest 
For  outward  hath  no  standing  with  the  inward  it  so  oft 

doth  think  to  simulate 
And  elsewise,  of  a  truth,  all  offertory  is  but  unction  laid 

unto  the  hearts  that  crave 
And  needs  must  image  ample  somewhat  howsoe'er  to 

lean  upon. 

Presentment  of  knower  and  magister  is  here ; 
Yea,  and  prescient  dweller  in  the  all-embracing — the  im- 
personal, 

For  that  the  inner  lenses  a  wondrous  clarity  hath  taken  on 

And  with  exceeding  nicety  full  unto  the  all-sight  hath 

freely  found  adjust. 

(Con  impeto  doloroso.) 

The  human  contrariant 

In  lieu  thereof  doth  every  power  strain  to  poignant  tension 

Avowed  to  compass  what  ? 


58  APOSTROPHE. 

Of  a  surety  what  availeth  it,  this  that  hath  been  wrought  ? 
A  mixtured  hoard  of  quasi-knowledges  and  values  jealous- 
prized  is  garnered  up, 

Here  and  there  a  lustrous  grain  of  verity  its  worth  betray- 
ing, 

The  while,  with  strained  assume,  knowledge,  unless  glib- 
named  and  human-catalogued 

Is  reckoned  void — as  tho'  'twere  not  th'  eternal  circum- 
ambient free  dispensed  unto  the  apt 
But  somewhat  creature-made  and  fashioned  Standing  in 

need  of  sponsors. 
Enough  it  doth  suffice  withal, — 
The  higher  use  ignored,  that  it  be  widely  known  this 

worth's  possessed  ; 

Enough  ! — to  eager  crib  the  all-emoluments 
And  to  rthe  gross — the  evanescent — froward  make  them 

ministers. 

Albeit, — what  of  the  fated  end  ? 
Selfdom  is   betrayed! — head-and-heart  pseudos  insidious 

beset,— 
The  king  is  his  own  usurper ! 

Wherefore,  to  think  in  all  things  divest  of  sense  of  self 
Is  steadfast  to  approach  high  ingress  arduous  to  Wisdom's 
outer  courts — 


APOSTROPHE.  59 

Steadfast  to  ascend  from  dwarf dom 
Unto  the  great  arch-regnancy ! 

(Grave  grave  devoto  al  fine.) 

O, thou heir  to  the  Absolute !    : — 

Unto  thee  hath  it  been  declared  what  things  are  per- 
manent and  what  shall  pass  away. 
Unto  thee  in  sagas  hath  been  shown  the   substance  of 

things  hoped  for. 
Fiat  is  thine — range  is  thine — and  the  divine  plenipotence 

that  maketh  .  .  is  .  .  of  was-not. 
Self  eliminate — else  were  wrought  thy  disinherit — arriveth 

the  sage 

Bearing  thy  titles. 

But  inward,  still  inward  urge  thy  tremulous  attent 
For  that  th'enwisdomed  Oracle  a  sequel  hath  eluding 

Reason's  plummet 
To  lack  which  were  with  sealed  grants  of  worth  inestimate 

to  be  invest 

Their  hushed,  full-fraught  intent  the  while  estopt  from 
slenderest  interpret. 

There  remaineth  the  super-essential : 


60  APOSTROPHE. 

(Devotissimo.) 

"  Soothfast  evoke  the  Self! 
This,  thy  Centrality,  bespeak : — 

SHINE,  O,  SUN  INCOMPARABLE !  ! 

This,  thy  Secondless  Reality  : — 

THY  REALDOM  COME !  !  " 

Thus  only  is  fulfilled  the  promise,  sum  of  promises. 
Thus  alone  'tis  suretied  who  seeing,  loseth  all 
Gaineth  the  all-dominant. 


O,  being  with  the  name  ever  coupled  with  the  infinite ! 
O,  dweller  in  the  birthless,  timeless  Now  !    : — 
Marvel  not  that  wherefore  thou  art,  thou  art  alway. 
Neither  marvel  of  thy  wherefore  aught 
Since  unto  thy  Whither  the  mystic  traceries  would  guide, 
Spiritward  lies  thy  heritage. 

Thence  doth  ever  beckon  with  soul-intensing  plead 
The  hidden,  periled  course  mounting  upward — ever  upward 
Thro"  storm-clouds  raged  and  lightning-shattered — 
On  ;  ....  on  ....  in  rapturous  rhythmic, 
Vivid  and  more  vivid  spiraling 

Thro'   the    grandeur-wrought    surprises    of    thy    higher 
being's  plenum  doth  it  track  I 


APOSTROPHE.  61 


Soft ! — its  tracing  disappeareth  in  the  star-maze — 

in  the  peace-haunts — 
'Mid  the  symphonies  of  white  Light — 
But  'tis  endless  as  the  starry  maze  itself. 


O,   thou,   thine  own  and  only  architect — establisher — 
ruler — perfecter ! 

O,  thou,  thine  own  and  only  sower  and  reaper — preserver 
or  destroyer !  v 

O,  thou,  thine  own  and  only  breaker  of  the  seals — right 
to  the  emancipate — master-key  to  the  arcanum — 
solvent  Word !    : — 

Whoso,  looking  calmly  out  upon  Entirety's  face 
Can  straightway  introvert  the  ampliate  gaze 
And  find  both  seer  and  the  seen  interior-sphered 
As  self-same  One  inseparate ; — 
Making  no  litanies,  nor  for  dispensations 
Nor  aught  of  recompense  for  duty  done 
A  thought  bestowed ; — 
Harboring  no  choice  apart  from  the  One 
all-excellent — all-pervasive 


62  APOSTROPHE. 

Ensamples  and  autotypes  the  REAL  immaculate — immu- 
table— consummate — the  one  and  only  REAL 
And  shall  be  called 

S  uf  f  i  c  e  r . 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


HlulQWl 
LD/URL  JUN191 


Form  L9-50m-4,'61(B8994s4)444 


PS 

_991  Apotheosis  of 

All&i.  an  ideal  " 


PS 

991 

A1A6U 


University  of  California,  Los  Angeles 


L  005  243  502  1 


